Jobless Claims: Slight Increase

Bottom Line:  Claims rose only slightly after falling five weeks. Seasonal factors had only a small impact on the reading last week. Moreover, there were no signs of any impact from the autoworker strike. State-level data showed only minor moves in states with significant workers in the auto industry, including suppliers that might need to lay off people amid slower production. Overall, the labor market remains off the tightest levels but is still historically tight and possibly tightening again.Initial Jobless Claims ROSE 2k in the week ended September 23rd to 204k, BELOW the 4-week average of 211k, BELOW the 13-week average of 227.46154k but 22k ABOVE the year-ago level.Continuing Claims ROSE 12k in the week ended September 16th to 1.67M, BELOW the 4-week average of 1.67375M, BELOW the 13-week average of 1.697308M but 380k ABOVE the year-ago level.